Bird flu spreads to new areas

Guwahati, Dec 2 : Thousands of birds are being culled daily at Hajo near the state capital even as Avian Influenza spread to new areas forcing authorities to ban sale of chicken in some areas.''Culling is on, though remoteness of areas and resistance by owners presents some difficulties in further expediting the process,'' state Veterinary department director Dr A K Kotoky said.

He added that about 37,000 ducks and chickens had been culled so far.

Blood samples were sent to Bhopal and Pune laboratories after unnatural death of birds was reported since last week and they had tested positive for the H5N1 strain, confirming the first outbreak of bird flu in the state.

The director informed that all district deputy commissioners have been alerted to keep watch on any possible mass death of poultry and report immediately in the wake of such a situation.

Preventive culling was undertaken in the state last year when bird flu was detected in North Bengal.

Dr Kotoky said migratory birds, who arrive in small numbers to roost in water bodies at Hajo, could have been the bearers of the virus.

Kamrup (rural) district authorities have imposed a ban on sale of poultry and sounded a general alert in about 40 villages in a radius of five kms from the area where the deaths were reported.

The country has not reported any human infections so far, though the first outbreak in poultry was reported in 2006 in Maharashtra.

Experts fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to an epidemic.

After the last outbreak reported in Darjeeling in West Bengal in May, there were no further reports prompting the Centre to declare the country free of avian flu. Between January and May this year, 42 incidents of bird flu were reported from West Bengal and Tripura.

Though the last reported case in Darjeeling was disinfected on June 4, the government could not declare the country flu-free due to a sporadic incident of outbreak in Manipur in July.